Line casting machine



I June 9, 1931. s. E. SPERRY 1,809,750

LINE CAsTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 14, 1930 INVENTOR ATTORN EY Patented June 9, 1931 srATes PAT NrgorFi E SAMUEL E. SEEERY, or ermann-W roan, ,essienora T rnrnnrrrnconroanrron, or, BEOOKLYK,IEW. roan, va eoiaronnrronor new YORK LINE onsrine ranoirrnn r v 7 Application filed February 14-, 1930. Serial No. 425,459.

The present invention relates to improve ments in line casting machines of the general class shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 436,532; granted September 16, 1890'to O. Merg'enthaler wherein a line of matrices and space bands are presented in front-of a mold. by a. so called elevator and molten metal is injected into" the mold and against the matrix line to casta type bar or slug having edge thereof. c a a a One of the primary objects of the invention is to provide noveland improved means whereby machines of the classre-ferred to'may be adapted to cast slugshaving a body portion of greater thickness than thepoint size of the printing characters onits-glprinting edge, with the same speed andfacility with which ordinary slugs are castin 'such'machines,such slugs beingv useful for example for the production of printed matter having printing characters alongeqan wider spacing than usual between the printed lines, as in legislative bills andthe like, with out requiring theinsertion of .leads? between the slugs. v e i i g Y a Another object isto provide means whereby relatively thick body-slugs'such as those w p first elevator which is movable vertically on formedin the well known recessed molds but bearing a line of printing characters of any point size commonly usedwith twoletter matrices may be produced satisfactorily and efficiently in line castingmachines of: the class referred to. e '7 i Another :object is to providev imp'roved means whereby-slugs having an extended body portion of greater thickness and of less height than the character bearing edge may be cast in recessedmolds'in iwhich the-mold cap and body are in fixedr relation as distinguished froma mold whereinthe capis movable to permit ejection of {the slug from v the mold.[ V a A further object oft-he inventionis to provide-novel'and improved casting means for machines of the class referred to for casting slugsofjthe kind above referred-to,' whereby apart of the elevator orvefquivalent means which carries the matrix line-to casting position in front of the mold cooperates with the recessed mold cap to format metal-tight"seal Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the mold cap asviewed, from the front, showing the bevelled'or inclined surface thereon which co operates with a corresponding surface on the matrix positioning r elevator; and

Fi 3 isa perspective viewiof a type bar 0r slug such as that castin a mold of the construction shown.

The invention isshown in the present instanceas'appliedto a line casting .machine of the general: class disclosed in the patent hereinbefore noted, 1 representing the mold wheel or dlsk'commonly used in suchmachines and carrying the slug casting mold which comprises a mold body 2 and amold cap 3," liners 4 being interposedbetween. the

moldcap and body for spacing them, 5 represents theupperportion ofthe socalled the usual vise frame 6 and carries opposed front and 'rear jaws and 8 which form a channel 'betweenth'em to contain a matrix line comprising the usual matrices M and wedgelike or expansible spacers S, the elevator being operative tolower the matrix line into position in front of themold and a justification bar' 9 being arranged to force fill'out the matrix line; as is well underjthe space bands S upwardly to expand and stood in this art. 10 represents the mouth H 7 piece 'of a'- metal pot which maybe of the usual construction and may operate in the usual way toinject molten metal. into the mold cavity 11 to cast a-typ'e bar or slug therein; 'The" mold wheel 1, as is usual in machines ofthis class, is reciprocable in a forward and rearward dlrection, it being normally in a retractedposition which will permit descent of the elevator'fi to bring the matrix linein front of the mold, after'which the-mold, Wheel moves forwardly and brings the mold into casting position with the front face of the mold in contact with the matrix line to form a metal-tight seal or lock-up therewith.

The mold shown in the present instance is of the recessed type shown in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,210,078 granted December 26, 1916 to J. Keenan, the mold cap being formed on its under side with grooves or recesses 12 which extend in a forward and rearward direction and constitute part of the mold cavity, and the mold cap is secured rigidly or immovably to the mold body 2 by screws or equivalent fastening means 14, molds of this class being adapted to cast type bars or slugs having vertical ribs projecting from one side thereof.

According to the present invention, the front lip of the mold cap, which is usually employed to lock up squarely against the rear face of the matrix line, is bevelled or ground off angularly at its upper corner throughout its entire length, forming an upwardly and rearwardly inclined or angular surface 15, and the lower rear corner or edge of the rear elevator jaw 8 is correspondingly bevelled or ground off to form an upwardly and rearwardly inclined or angular surface 16 which is parallel with the bevelled or angular surface 15 on the mold cap. The bevelling of the mold cap may be carried to any suitable depth and its angle of inclination may vary, but the bevelled surface 16 on the rear elevator jaw is always made parallel to the bevelled surface 15 so that it will contact evenly and form a metal-tight joint therewith.

Such bevelling of the lip of the mold cap enables the rear elevator jaw 8 to descend sufficiently to reduce the height of the forward end of the mold cavity to correspond with the point size of the upperor lower character m or m of the usual two-letter matrix, and the bevelled surface 16 of this elevator jaw is in a position to contact with the bevelled surface 15 on the mold cap and thereby seal or close the forward ends of the grooves or recesses 12 in the mold cap where they are exposed by the bevelled surface 15.

Since the unbevelled portion of the front lip of the mold cap locks up against the rear face of the matrix line, the forward ends of the grooves 12 will be sealed from one another along this lip by the matrix line, and since the normal clearance between the rear face of the matrix line and the rear jaw 8 of the elevator is usually very small and the rear jaw in the usual construction of machines of this class is sufficiently flexible to yield forwardly to bring the lowermost edge thereof into engagement with the rear face of the matrix line between or above the character punchings therein, under the pressure exerted thereon by the usual advance of the metal pot mouthpiece and mold to effect the lockup, and which pressure is transmitted to the rear jaw 8 by the engagement of the bevelled surface 15 on the mold cap with the bevelled surface 16 on said jaw, a metal tight seal is formed for the grooves 12 which will prevent a squirt of molten metal between the jaw 8 and the line of matrices.

In the operation of a line casting machine constructed as hereinbefore described, the matrix line is presented in front of the mold in the usual manner by descent of the first elevator, the jaws 7 and 8 thereof holding the matrix line in alinement with the casting cavity 11 of the mold and with the characters of the matrices from which the cast is to be made alined as usual on a level with the bottom or base of the mold cavity. When the mold wheel advances to lock the mold against the matrix line, the bevelled or angular faces 15 and 16 on the mold cap and rear elevator jaw respectively will come into contact with one another and will form a molten metal-tight joint or seal which will close off the flow of molten metal between these bevelled surfaces, and the forward pressure exerted on these surfaces by the lock-up will force the lowermost edge of the rear jaw 8 forwardly against the portion of the rear face of the matrix line above the characters alined with the mold cavity to seal or close off the flow of molten metal from the grooves 12 between the jaw 8 and the line of matrices to those portions of the matrices which are above the character against which the cast is to be made, and the forward ends of the grooves or recesses 12 in the mold cap will be thereby effectively sealed or closed to prevent leakage of molten metal therefrom. In the usual operation of line casting machines of this class, the matrix line, after being lowered to position in front of the mold, is justified by the driving up of the space bands S by the justifying bar 9 and the first elevator which contains the matrix line is lifted slightly for the purpose of drawing the bottom lugs m of the matrices against the upper ed e of the alining groove 2" in the mold body or ase, thereby producing accurate alinement of the matrices relatively to the mold, but not-withstanding the rise of the elevator during justification, an effective metal tight seal will be produced betweenthe bevelled surfaces 15 and 16 since the advance of the metal pot mouthpiece 10 against the back of the mold will drive the mold wheel 1 and the mold thereon forwardly and will effectively close any slight gap that may be produced between the bevelled surfaces 15 and 16 by the slight vertical rise of the elevator. the bevelled or inclined relation of the surfaces 15 and 16 to the horizontal line of movement of the mold when moving into position to form a lock-up with the matrix line compensating for such variations as might exist in the vertical position rename of the rear elevator jaw 8 relatively tothe mold. i

Typev bars or slugs cast in a mold having a portion of its casting cavity sealed or closed in the manner hereinbefore described will I comprise a relatively thin body portion 17 the thickness of which corresponds substan-' .tially with the point size of the "printing characters-18 which are formed along an edge thereof and ribs 19 which project laterally from one side of the body "17 and extend in parallelism from the bottom toward the top of the slug, the upper ends of these ribs however being bevelled or inclined as at 20 so that they recede orextend downwardly and outwardly from the printing face. or edge 18 and they therefore will not catch-ink and smudge the printing surface during print ing from such slugs, although the ribs ofeach slugwill engage the flat sides of the adjacent slugs when the slugs are assembled n a printing form and will thereby space the printing surfaces of the slugs more widely than is usual with the standard slugs without requiring the interposing of leads or blank slugs between the printing slugs.

It will be understood that recessed mold caps of different point sizes may be used to cast slugs of different thicknesses, itxbeing 1 only necessary that the lips of the caps be bevelled surface 15 on the mold cap is above the liners 4 which space the cap from the mold body, the liners, according to the pres ent invention, do not engage the rear elevator jaw and bevelling or other special shaping of the liners is unnecessary so that. the usual or standard liners may be used.

The present invention enablestype bars or ber havinga-surface which is bevelled to-correspond with said bevelled surface on the slugs having a body portion offgreater thickness than the point size of the printing char- I acters thereon to be cast perfectly in line casting machines of the kind generally used for the casting of the standard slugs, thus making it possible to'rapidly produce slugs capable of printing with widely spaced lines without the labor and expense of manually: inserting leads between standard slugs as heretofore practiced. It enables slugs having spacing ribs with bevelled upper ends which slo'peaway from the printing edge and which will avoid catching ink to be pro duced without the expense and complication of mounting the mold cap movably topermit ejection of the slug from the mold, since the bevelling of the lip. of the mold cap and the sealing of the forward ends of the grooves or recesses in the cap by the correspondingly bevelled surface on the rear elevation jawenables the slug to be ejected forwardly from the-mold by theusual slug ejecting meansin the machlne'operatingin the usual manner While the cap remains in fixed relation to the moldbody, notwithstanding that the printing edge'of the. slug is of a thickness qwhich corresponds only to the point size of the printing characters thereon; Owing to the close fit or tight seal formed between the mold cap and the rear elevator jaw, no leakage of molten metal, which might produce projecting fins on the slugs, can occur, these bevelled surfaces accommodating themselves to variations in the relative positlons of the moldcap and rear elevator jawand, hence,= always producing a metal-tight lock-up. Type bars or slugs produced boy-the casting means provided by the present invention are of the same general class as those disclosed in U; S. LettersPatent No. 1,742,981 granted Jan. 7 1930 to L. NVillis and are capableof beingused for the same purposes, but possess the advantagethereoverof greater lightness in weightsince less type metal is 1 required in forming the spacing ribs.

I claim as my invention-: j j

l. Ina line casting machine, the combination of a moldfhaving arcavity therein for toasting a type slug and embodying a cap [having a bevelled surface through which a portion of themold cavity is exposed, anda member for bringing a'matrix line into position in front of the mold, said member having a bevelled. surface-thereon; cooperat ve with the bevelledsurface on the mold cap to seal saidexposed portion of the mold cavity.

2.. In a, line casting machine, the combination-ofa matrix line holding member and a slug: castingwmold movable toward said member toybring a face oflthe mold against the matrix. line, the moldhaving a surface through which a portion; of the {mold cavity isexposed and which is bevelled relatively to the plane ,of the matrixeen'gaging face; of the mold, and the matrix. line holding meme cent to its matrix engaging face through whicha portion of the mold cavity is exposed and which lies in a plane at an incline to the. direction of movement of the mold toward the matrix line, and the matrix holding member having a bevelled surface opposed'to and cooperative'with said bevelled surface on the mold to close the portion of the mold cavity exposed therethrough.

4. In a line casting machine, the combination of a vertically movable elevator having jaws for supporting a matrix line, and a laterally movable slug casting mold having a face engageable with a side of the matrix line, the mold having a bevelled surface which is inclined to the matrix engaging face of the mold and to the direction of movement of the latter and exposes a portion of themold cavity, and one of the jaws of the elevator having a correspondingly bevelled surface cooperative with that of the mold to close said exposed portion of the mold cavity.

5. In a line casting machine, the combination of a vertically movable elevator having jaws for holding a matrix line, and a slug casting mold having a face movable laterally into engagement with a side of the matrix line below one of said jaws, the mold embodying a recessed cap having a lip adjacent to the matrix engaging face bevelled at an incline to said matrix engaging face and exposing the ends of the recesses in the mold cap,'and one of the jaws of the elevator being bevelled to correspond and cooperate with the bevelled lip of the mold cap to close the exposed ends of the recesses therein.

6. In a line casting machine, the combination of a, vertically movable elevator having jaws for holding two-letter matrices, and a laterally movable mold having a face engageable with a side of the matrix line and having a slug casting cavity therein of a point size larger than that of the letters of the matrices with which it cooperates, one of the jaws of the elevator having a portion extended over the mold engaging face of the matrix line to confine the area exposed to the mold to the oint size of the matrix character and havmg the side thereof toward the mold bevelled to extend at an incline to the mold engaging face of the matrix line, and the mold having a correspondingly bevelled surface which exposes a portion of the mold cavity and is engageable by said bevelled portion of the elevator jaw to close said exposed portion of the mold cavity. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

SAMUEL E. SPERRY. 

